


Six Dates

by sunkelles



Series: Femslash February 2016 [9]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack, F/F, Femslash, Femslash February, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Matchmaking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-20 05:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5993949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/sunkelles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five Starks that Arya sets Shireen up with, and one that Shireen set herself up with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Six Dates

**Author's Note:**

> The premise is fun, but the execution is sort of bad. It's a bit cracky, but I hope that you guys enjoy it anyway!!

1.

 

Arya is sixteen years old when she decides that having Shireen as part of her family would probably be the greatest possible thing ever. It’s really not all that surprising of a realization, or really a realization at all. It’s just that she finally recognizes what it is that she’s always wanted. She and Shireen have been inseparable since kindergarten, and there’s a part of her that worries that she might lose her.

 

Shireen’s mentioned that Jon’s cute enough times. She talked about his cute black hair, and his grey eyes. It’s really not that much of a stretch to see Shireen dating him. If Shireen has to date someone, it should be one of Arya’s brothers at least. Then she’ll stay in the family.

 

It takes a while to set up the date, but Arya gets it to happen. Afterwards, she talks to Shireen immediately to make sure that her plan worked.

 

“So,” Arya asks, “how’d it go?”

“It was alright, I guess,” Shireen says, “kind of awkward to be honest.”

“What?” Arya asks, sounding shocked and a little bit distraught.

“He’s your brother,” Shireen says, “and we don’t really have that much in common.”

“Oh,” Arya says, “okay.” Shireen does, however, share a lot of interests with Bran. They’re both into the same weird fantasy shows and conspiracy documentaries.

 

She could try that?

 

2.

 

Six months later, Arya does try that. Bran is fifteen years old, and Shireen has just turned seventeen so he agrees on the spot. Even if it doesn’t work out, Bran will still have bragging rights among the boys his age for going out with an older girl. Shireen agrees, but isn’t happy about it.

 

Afterwards, she lets Arya know that.

 

“How did it go?” Arya asks.

“Fine,” Shireen says, sounding a little bit irritated.

“Are you going to do it again?” Arya asks, a little bit of excitement creeping into her tone.

“Nope,” Shireen says.

“But why not?” Arya asks. She had really thought that Shireen and Bran could work out. They’re already friends.

“Arya,” Shireen says, “I like Bran, but I don’t want to date him.”

“Are you sure?” Arya asks. She had really thought that this one would work. She’s running out of brothers.

“Yep,” Shireen says, “Bran and I aren’t going out again. But I think that he might have a thing for older women. He talked about Meera Reed the entire time.”

“Alright,” Arya says, begrudgingly. She decides to wait at least a little while before trying to plan again.

 

3.

 

A little while is exactly two months later, when Jon and Robb are back for Christmas break. Robb, the better of her final options for the “get Shireen to date one of her brothers and marry into the family” plan, has finally broken up with his girlfriend, Talisa. It takes some convincing on both parts to get them to agree, but it does happen. Shireen almost never refuses Arya anything, which is something that she appreciates.

 

Afterwards, it’s the same spiel. “No, it didn’t work out. No, we aren’t seeing each other again. No, we don’t have anything in common. Arya, please stop doing this.”

 

Arya doesn’t stop. Arya Stark never stops until her plans have finally worked out. She supposes that all her hopes now lie with Rickon. Rickon is thirteen, a baby compared to Shireen at seventeen. But Padmé Amidala somehow fell in love with Anakin Skywalker, so Arya sets her hopes on that. Rickon’s even got more positive qualities than Anakin Skywalker. At least he hasn’t massacred any villages or turned to the dark side yet.

  


4.

 

Arya has to trick Shireen into this one. She sets up a dinner in the backyard shed, and Shireen walks out of it as soon as she walks into it.

 

“I can’t believe you tried to set me up with _Rickon,”_ Shireen says his name with disgust.

“Rickon’s nice,” Arya says.

“Rickon’s _twelve_ ,” Shireen repeats, with even more disgust.

“He just turned three and ten last week,” Arya assures her. Shireen glares, and watches her breath as she exhales angrily.

“I’m not dating any more of your brothers!” Shireen shouts.

“That’s alright,” Arya says, but it really isn’t, “I don’t even have any more brothers.” Shireen sighs, and looks at her boots.

“But why didn’t you like any of them?” Arya asks. Shireen takes a deep breath, and stares at her boots again.

“Shireen,” Arya asks, “what is it?”

Shireen says, “There’s this little detail where I’m gay, Arya.”

“You’re gay?” Arya asks, and she can feel her heart do an eager somersault. For a moment, Arya thinks that she could date Shireen. But she knows that’s preposterous. There’s no way that Shireen would like her. They’re best friends, nothing more. She couldn’t imagine Shireen ever returning her feelings.

“That’s not a problem, right?” Shireen asks, nervously.

“No,” Arya says, “Of course not. It’s just.. why didn’t you tell me?”

_She could ask you the same question,_ a voice inside her head tells her. She tells that voice to shut up.

“It didn’t come up,” Shireen says, and even Arya, who’s not great at reading people, can tell that it’s a lie. She doesn’t press the other girl on it, though. Because now she has the greatest idea that she’s ever gotten. They walk into the house, and try to warm up. Arya starts thinking about the best way to execute this next stroke of match-making.

 

5.

 

Setting Shireen up with Sansa is a stroke of genius, Arya thinks. She only has one sister compared to her four brothers, but luckily her one sister is likable, bi, and single. There’s really no better scenario. Arya doesn’t exactly tell Shireen that she’s setting her up with her sister, but she does tell her that she knows a nice, queer girl that would like to go on a date with her.

 

“You promise it’s a girl this time?” Shireen asks.

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Arya replies.

“Alright,” Shireen says, “I’ll give it a go.” Arya grins, and waits until after Shireen’s date. Shireen doesn’t come over to the Stark house afterwards, and Arya has to call her after Sansa comes back and refuses to speak to her about it.

 

“Hello?” Shireen asks as picks up her phone.

“So are you and Sansa dating now?” Arya asks.

“No,” Shireen says.

“Why not?” Arya says.

“Just because we’re both gay doesn’t mean we’re soulmates,” Shireen says.

“But, but, she’s _Sansa,”_ Arya says. _Everyone_ always wants to date Sansa. Sansa’s had three boyfriends and two girlfriends over her high school career. She’s what people would call a “catch”.

“Just please,” Shireen says, “I need some time to think.” Arya feels like her world is collapsing around her. She doesn’t have any more siblings to set Shireen up with, and it feels like the other girl is slipping out of her fingers.

“Um,” she says, her voice cracking slightly, “yeah. I’ll just go. Bye Shireen.” Arya hangs up on Shireen, and tries to calm her breathing. That didn’t work at all, and Shireen seems pissed. Arya thinks that she might have done more harm than good. Or to be more accurate, Arya thinks that she might have fucked everything up so royally she can’t fix it.

 

Three days pass, and Shireen doesn’t speak to her at all. She doesn’t come over, she doesn’t call her, she doesn’t even _text_ her. Arya worries herself sick.

 

+1. 

 

Three days after the Sansa incident, Arya is lying on the couch, trying to cheer herself up by watching basketball. It isn’t really working, but at least she’s giving it a try. She hears the doorbell ring, and she curls further into the couch. She really doesn’t want to get up.

“Could someone get that?” her mother shouts from the kitchen.

“I got the last one!” Bran shouts from the couch. Sansa is upstairs in her bedroom, and is therefore completely exempt from door duty.

“It’s not my turn!” Rickon shouts. Arya groans, but realizes that she will have to be the one to get the door. She pulls herself off of the couch, and makes her way over to the door. She opens it up, and sees Shireen standing in front of her, in her signature light pink peacoat and cream colored scarf.

“Hi Arya,” she says, sounding a tiny bit nervous.

“Hey,” Arya says. She hasn’t seen Shireen for three days since the incident that was her failed date with Sansa.

“Would you like to go get food with me?” Shireen asks.

“Yeah,” Arya says, “of course.”

She scrambles to grab her own jacket, and shouts to her mom, “I’m going out with Shireen.”

“Be back by nine,” her mother shouts back.

“But mom-”

“It’s a school night, Arya,” her mother retorts.

“Fine,” Arya grumbles. She follows Shireen out to her car, which is still parked across the street at the Baratheon-Seaworth house.

 

They walk into the restaurant, and Arya realizes that she’s not familiar with it. As she walks in, she realizes that it’s a lot more than nice. It’s fancy, in the way that just screams “you can’t get anything here that costs less than twenty dollars.”

 

"This is a really fancy restaurant," Arya says, "is it my name day?"

"No," she says, "I just thought we should go somewhere nice."

"For what?" Arya asks.

"Our first date," Shireen says, smiling and blushing at the same time.

"What?" Arya asks, not daring to get her hopes up.

“I wanted to take you on a date,” Shireen says.

“Wait,” Arya says, “you, you wanted to date me?”

“Yes,” Shireen says, “you set me up with all your siblings. I decided that I might as well get a date with the Stark that I actually like.”

“You like me?” Arya asks, but it comes out as a bit of an excited squeak.

“Yes,” Shireen says, her face turning scarlet. Even though she’s been very bold, she’s still blushing like crazy.

“I think that I like you too,” Arya says, even though it's less of an "I think" and more of an "I know". 

“I kind of figured,” Shireen says.

“Wait,” Arya says, “how?”

“Well,” she says, “you were trying to set me up with every single one of your siblings.”  
“Which would show that I’m _not_ romantically attracted to you,” Arya says.

“Or it could mean that you were trying to live through your siblings,” Shireen suggests, “plus, Sansa told me that she was like ninety nine percent sure you’ve had a crush on me since freshman year.”

“Alright,” Arya says, blushing bright red, “how long have you liked me?”  
“Since seventh grade,” Shireen admits. The red hasn’t left her cheeks, but Arya suspects that they would have turned even redder with those words.

 

The hostess finally comes up to the counter.

“Table for two, please,” Shireen says. The woman grabs two menus, and starts to lead them to their table.

“I can’t believe that we’re on a date,” Arya says, excitement building in her gut.

“It only took me five dates to get to this one,” Shireen says.

“Now we’ve got all the time in the world,” Arya says hopefully. Shireen smiles back at her, and Arya’s heart skips a beat. She can’t believe that she didn’t realize what she was feeling was a crush.

“No thanks to you,” Shireen teases.

“I just needed a nudge in the right direction,” Arya claims. Shireen rolls her eyes in exasperation, but it’s a fond exasperation. Arya can’t believe that she deluded herself into believing she wanted anyone else to date her.

 

Arya Stark never wants Shireen Baratheon to date anyone but her ever again. 


End file.
